1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of gardening and agriculture and more particularly to a method and apparatus for identifying an appropriate gardening or agricultural material based on responses to user queries.
2. Description of Related Art
There are a wide variety of regulated gardening and agricultural materials (hereinafter referred to as gardening materials) including, but not limited to, pesticides, fertilizers and seeds, that are available to today's gardeners, homeowners, pest-control operators, professional applicators, greens-keepers, extension agencies, state agencies, professional advisors, poison control centers and farmers. As used herein, a “pesticide” refers to a material which may be used to kill a pest. Pests may include insects, fungi, nematodes, snails/slugs, weeds and diseases. Pests may be found outside or inside the home. Accordingly, pesticides include such diverse products as flea sprays, bathroom tile cleaners, and pool cleaners as well as more familiar garden and farm pesticides.
A difficult decision arises when one has to select an appropriate gardening material to address a specific problem. For example, one type of pesticide is insecticide. When faced with an insect problem, one must first identify the type of insect. Then one must select an appropriate insecticide based on where (e.g. vegetable or other edible vegetation, ornamental shrub, lawn, house, etc.) the problem is occurring. Once the appropriate insecticide is identified, one must select from a number of commercial products and application methods (e.g. powder, spray, systemic, time-released, etc.). Often one is not even aware of what the problem is (insect, fungus or other), but instead simply has a symptom as the sole basis of identification.
The aforementioned problem is further complicated by the fact that the “right” garden material may vary across different regions of the country and even different states in the same region. Additionally, the increasing sales of gardening materials by large chain stores with inadequately trained sales personnel further exacerbates the consumer's dilemma.
What is needed is a method and apparatus for identifying an appropriate gardening material based on user input.